Antenna mount

ABSTRACT

A mount for an antenna includes: first and second generally C-shaped arms, each with upper and lower free ends; equipment face mounting brackets mounted on the first and second arms; and lower and upper plates mounted to a post. The upper free ends of the first and second arms are pivotally mounted to the upper plate, and the lower free ends of the first and second arms are pivotally mounted to the lower plate, such that the first and second arms are movable between retracted and extended positions. The first and second arms are fixed in the extended position relative to the upper and lower plate via fasteners inserted through holes in the upper and lower free ends of the arms and in the upper plate, the pivotal mounts and the holes defining a desired angle between the first and second arms in the extended position.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 15/139,057, filed Apr. 26, 2016, which claims priority from and thebenefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/154,111, filed Apr. 28,2015, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/307,877, filed Mar. 14,2016, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein in theirentirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to mounts for antennas, and moreparticularly to mounts for antennas on an antenna tower or monopole.

BACKGROUND

With increased demand for more wireless communication, the number ofradio and antenna units that a tower traditionally supports hasincreased and is expected to continue to increase. New towers will needto be designed to support greater numbers of antenna and radio units,while existing towers are retrofitted to support more units, and effortis made to fully utilize space available on the towers.

In addition, antennas are becoming larger in order to handle morewireless traffic. One parameter that influences antenna design isEffective Projected Area (EPA), which is determined by calculationsdefined by TIA/ANSI-222-G. EPA is intended to predict the effect of windloading on an antenna structure to enable designers to create a safedesign. The configuration of the antenna mount can impact thecalculations. As such, minimizing an antenna mount's contribution to EPAcan be desirable.

In addition, because antennas are typically mounted on towers well abovethe ground, technicians working on the antennas and their mounts are atsome risk. As a result, a mount design that can reduce the time atechnician spends on the tower may also be desirable.

SUMMARY

As a first aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a mountfor an antenna, comprising: first and second generally C-shaped arms,each with upper and lower free ends; equipment face mounting bracketsmounted on the first and second arms; and lower and upper plates mountedto a post. The upper free ends of the first and second arms arepivotally mounted to the upper plate, and the lower free ends of thefirst and second arms are pivotally mounted to the lower plate, suchthat the first and second arms are movable between retracted andextended positions. The first and second arms are fixed in the extendedposition relative to the upper plate via fasteners inserted throughholes in the upper free ends of the arms and in the upper plate, and thefirst and second arms are fixed in the extended position relative to thelower plate via fasteners inserted through holes in the lower free endsof the arms and in the lower plate, the pivotal mounts and the holesdefining a desired angle between the first and second arms in theextended position.

As a second aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to a tiltangle selection mechanism for an antenna mount, comprising: a lowerbracket configured to attach to an antenna mount, the lower bracketincluding lower side panels; an upper bracket configured to attach tothe antenna mount, the upper bracket including upper side panels, eachof the upper side panels including a plurality of holes; and upper andlower bases for mounting the antenna mount to an antenna tower. Thelower side panels are attached to the lower base at a pivotable joint.The upper side panels are attached to the upper base via the insertionof a member through a selected one of the plurality of holes and intothe upper base, the insertion of the member preventing pivotal movementof the lower bracket relative to the lower base.

As a third aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to anazimuth adjustment mechanism for an antenna mount, comprising: upper andlower azimuth plates, each having an arcuate slot; arms attached to theupper and lower azimuth plates, the arms configured for mounting of aframe; a post in which the upper and lower azimuth plates are mounted,wherein the arcuate slots are configured with a radius of curvature thatis substantially collinear with an axis defined by the post; and upperand lower brackets attached to the post, each of the brackets having anadjustment member received in the slot of, respectively, the upper andlower azimuth plates so that the frame can rotated about the axisdefined by the post.

As a fourth aspect, embodiments of the invention are directed to apackage of antenna mounts, comprising a plurality of antenna mounts,each of the antenna mounts comprising: first and second generallyC-shaped arms, each with upper and lower free ends; equipment facemounting brackets mounted on the first and second arms; and lower andupper plates mounted to a post. The upper free ends of the first andsecond arms are pivotally mounted to the upper plate, and wherein thelower free ends of the first and second arms are pivotally mounted tothe lower plate, such that the first and second arms are movable betweenretracted and extended positions. In the retracted position, the firstand second arms are pivoted to be generally parallel with each other.The antenna mounts are disposed in vertically stacked relationship. Thepackage further comprises a shipping pallet underlying the stackedantenna mounts.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of an antenna mount according toembodiments of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a rear perspective view of the antenna mount of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a partial front side perspective view of the antenna mount ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a partial rear side perspective view of the antenna mount ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a front perspective view of the antenna mount of FIG. 1 withan equipment frame mounted thereon.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a shipping package with one mount ofFIG. 1 on a shipping pallet.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a shipping package with three mounts ofFIG. 1 stacked with interleaved pallets and hardware stored in a centralbox.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a shipping package with three mounts ofFIG. 1 stacked with interleaved pallets and hardware for mounting to amonopole positioned therein.

FIG. 9 is a partial top view of three antenna mounts of FIG. 1 mountedto a monopole via a ring mount.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention now is described more fully hereinafter withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of theinvention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in manydifferent forms and should not be construed as limited to theembodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided sothat this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fullyconvey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the figures, thethickness of certain lines, layers, components, elements or features maybe exaggerated for clarity. Broken lines illustrate optional features oroperations unless specified otherwise.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention.Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. It will befurther understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly useddictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the specification andrelevant art and should not be interpreted in an idealized or overlyformal sense unless expressly so defined herein. Well-known functions orconstructions may not be described in detail for brevity and/or clarity.

As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended toinclude the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicatesotherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises”and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify thepresence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements,and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of oneor more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements,components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or”includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associatedlisted items. As used herein, phrases such as “between X and Y” and“between about X and Y” should be interpreted to include X and Y. Asused herein, phrases such as “between about X and Y” mean “between aboutX and about Y.” As used herein, phrases such as “from about X to Y” mean“from about X to about Y.”

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “on”,“attached” to, “connected” to, “coupled” with, “contacting”, etc.,another element, it can be directly on, attached to, connected to,coupled with or contacting the other element or intervening elements mayalso be present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being,for example, “directly on”, “directly attached” to, “directly connected”to, “directly coupled” with or “directly contacting” another element,there are no intervening elements present. It will also be appreciatedby those of skill in the art that references to a structure or featurethat is disposed “adjacent” another feature may have portions thatoverlap or underlie the adjacent feature.

Spatially relative terms, such as “under”, “below”, “lower”, “over”,“upper”, “lateral”, “left”, “right” and the like, may be used herein forease of description to describe one element or feature's relationship toanother element(s) or feature(s) as illustrated in the figures. It willbe understood that the spatially relative terms are intended toencompass different orientations of the device in use or operation inaddition to the orientation depicted in the figures. For example, if thedevice in the figures is inverted, elements described as “under” or“beneath” other elements or features would then be oriented “over” theother elements or features. The device may be otherwise oriented(rotated 90 degrees or at other orientations) and the descriptors ofrelative spatial relationships used herein interpreted accordingly.

Referring now to the figures, an antenna mount, designated broadly at10, is shown in FIGS. 1-4. The mount 10 includes two pipe clamps 12,each of which includes rear and front pipe clamping jaws 14, 16connected by bolts 18. The pipe clamps 12 are configured to clamp to aleg of an antenna tower or other mounting structure positioned betweenthe rear and front clamping jaws 14, 16 when the bolts 18 are tightened.

As can be seen in FIG. 4, two side panels 20 are fixed to opposite sidewalls of a lower U-bolt bracket 22. Also, each of the side panels 20 ismounted to the lower front clamping jaw 16 via a bolt 24 about which theside panels 20 can pivot. Two side panels 26 are mounted to oppositeside walls of an upper U-bolt bracket 32 also, but the side panels 26include a plurality of mounting holes 28 arranged in two rows, throughwhich a bolt 30 mounts the side panels to the upper clamping jaw 16(FIG. 3). The plurality of mounting holes 28 enables the relativeposition of the upper U-bolt bracket 32 to the upper front clamping jaw16 to be varied, which in turn varies the “tilt” angle of an antennamounted to the antenna tower to be selected as needed. Each of the holes28 may be regularly spaced from the other holes 28 to provideincrementally increasing angular tilt; for example, the rightmost hole28 shown in FIG. 3 may correspond to zero tilt angle, the next rightmosthole 28 may correspond to one degree of tilt, the next rightmost hole 28may correspond to two degrees of tilt, and so on. Those skilled in thisart will recognize that other bases or foundations for mounting of theupper and lower U-bolt brackets to an antenna tower or other mountingstructure may be employed.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate that the lower and upper U-bolt brackets 22, 32are mounted to a cylindrical vertical post 34 via respective U-bolts 36,37. Upper and lower azimuth adjustment plates 38, 40 are fixed to thevertical post 34. Each of the upper and lower azimuth adjustment plates38, 40 has an arcuate slot 42 near its rear edge; the arcuate slot 42has a radius of curvature that is substantially collinear with an axisdefined by the vertical post 34. An adjustment bolt 44 (or otheradjustment member, such as a pin or the like) is inserted through theslot 42 and into a hole in the upper surface of the corresponding U-boltbracket 22, 32. When the adjustment bolt 44 is loosened, the upper andlower azimuth plates 38, 40 (and, in turn, the vertical post 34 andstructures mounted thereto) are free to rotate relative to the lower andupper U-bolt brackets 22, 32 about the vertical axis defined by the post34. Thus, the azimuth of an antenna mounted on the mount 10 can beadjusted by simply loosening the adjustment bolts 44, rotating theantenna into the desired position, and tightening the adjustment bolts44.

Referring still to FIGS. 3 and 4, two frame mounting holes 47, 48 arelocated near the front corners of the azimuth plates 38, 40. The holes47, 48 are arranged such that one pair of holes 47, 48 defines an axisthat forms a substantially horizontal angle of 120 degrees with the asubstantially axis defined by the other pair of holes 47, 48 in theazimuth plates 38, 40.

Referring now to FIGS. 1-4, two generally C-shaped arms 50 are attachedat their ends to the upper and lower azimuth plates 38, 40. Each of thearms 50 includes two horizontal runs 52 and a vertical run 54, which insome embodiments are formed as a monolithic component (for example, viawelding). At the free ends of the horizontal runs 52, the ends of thearms 50 have flattened sections 58 with two holes 60, 61. Bolts 62, 64or other threaded or unthreaded fasteners are inserted into the holes60, 61, then into the holes 47, 48 in the azimuth plates 38, 40, tosecure the arm 50 to the upper and lower azimuth plates 38, 40. As canbe seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, the flattened section 58 has raised edges 70that sandwich a recess 72 within which the holes 60, 61 are located. Itshould also be understood that the bolt 62 may be replaced with anothervariety of pivotal attachment, such as a pin, post, rivet or the like.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 2, two equipment face mounting brackets 80,82 are mounted at the intersections or vertices between the vertical run54 and the horizontal runs 52 of each arm 50. Each of the equipment facemounting brackets 80, 82 includes a base panel 84 with mounting holes86. The equipment face mounting brackets 80, 82 are welded or otherwisefixed to the arms 50 so that the base panels 84 are substantiallycoplanar to facilitate mounting of equipment.

Referring now to FIG. 5, a frame 100 for antenna mounting is shownmounted to the equipment face mounting brackets 80, 82. The frame 100includes two horizontal tubes 102 that are mounted to the equipment facemounting brackets 80, 82 via U-bolts 104 or the like. Notably, thehorizontal tubes 102 are positioned at essentially the same elevation asthe horizontal runs 52 of the arms 50, which can reduce EPA. Verticaltubes 106 (in the illustrated embodiment four vertical tubes 106 arepresent) are mounted to the horizontal tubes 102 via U-bolts 108inserted into holes in mounting brackets 110 fixed to the horizontaltubes 102. The vertical tubes 106 then provide mounting locations forantennas.

One of the advantages that can be provided by the mount described aboveis related to packaging and shipping. As can be seen in FIG. 6, adissembled subassembly 200 of the mount 10 can be provided that includesthe arms 50 with the equipment face mounting brackets 80, 82 weldedthereto, the vertical post 34, and the upper and lower azimuth plates38, 40. Each of the arms 50 is attached to the upper azimuth plate 38with only the bolt 62 and to the lower azimuth plate 40 only with thebolt 62. As such, the arms 50 can be pivoted relative to the upper andlower azimuth plates 38, 40 to a retracted position in which they aresubstantially parallel with each other, thereby forming a substantiallylevel structure.

In this configuration, the subassembly 200 forms a structure that can beeasily vertically stacked, either to form a stack of subassemblies 200themselves or, as can be seen in FIGS. 7 and 8, as an alternating seriesof layers with pallets 210 or other packaging layer to form an easilyshipped package (in either instance, a stack of three mounts 10 would betypical to surround a position on an antenna tower). FIG. 7 shows threesubassemblies 200 stacked on pallets 210 with a box 220 of hardwarecontained within the package for shipping, and FIG. 8 shows threesubassemblies 200 stacked on three pallets 210 with unboxed hardware 230contained within the package for shipping.

The aforementioned configuration can also facilitate assembly of themount 10. When the subassembly is removed from its “parallel” statedescribed above, the arms 50 can be pivoted relative to the upper andlower azimuth plates 38, 40 about the axis defined by the bolts 62 untilthe holes 61 of the arms 50 align with holes 48 in the azimuth plates38, 40. Bolts 64 can then be inserted into the holes 61, 48 and securedwith nuts. Thus, through only this simple process, the arms 50 can bepivoted to and fixed in an extended position at the desired angle of 120degrees. Both the mounting/alignment of the arms 50 and the azimuthadjustment are achieved with the same components (namely, the lower andupper azimuth plates 38, 40).

Also, because the equipment face mounting brackets 80, 82 are alreadyfixed relative to the arms 50, once the arms 50 are pivoted and fixed inthe extended position as described immediately above (and as shown inFIGS. 1 and 2), the equipment face mounting brackets 80, 82 aremechanically properly positioned to be coplanar with each other formounting of the frame 100.

It should also be noted that the presence of the raised edges 70 andrecess 72 in the flattened section 58 of the arms 50 can furtherfacilitate assembly. The width of the recess 72 can be selected toapproximate the width of the head of the bolt 64, which may be a squarehead or hex head bolt. As such, insertion of the bolt 64 through thehole 61 positions the head of the bolt 64 within the recess 72, wherethe raised edges 70 can prevent the bolt head from rotating. Thisinhibition of rotation of the bolt 64 renders securing of the bolt 64with a nut much easier, as it can be achieved with a single wrench orsimilar tool.

In addition, in some embodiments a label (such as an etched bar code orthe like) is included on the mount 10 to enable the mount 10 to betracked. Potentially pertinent information may include the source ofmaterials, the manufacturing date, lot and site, the packaging and/orshipping date, instructions for assembly, and the like.

Construction and installation of the mount 10 typically proceedsaccording to the following steps:

(a) the arms 50 are unfolded from their parallel position to a position120 degrees apart, and are secured with the bolts 64;

(b) the horizontal tubes 102 are secured to the equipment face mountingbrackets with U-bolts 104;

(c) the vertical tubes 106 are secured to the horizontal tubes 102 withU-bolts 108 to form the frame 100;

(d) the front and rear pipe clamping jaws 14, 16 are mounted to a towerleg at the desired height;

(e) the mount 100 is raised to the proper height, and the lower sidepanels 20 are attached to the lower front pipe clamping jaw 16 via thebolt 24;

(f) the upper side panels 20 are attached to the upper front pipeclamping jaw 16 via the bolt 32 positioned in the desired mounting hole28 to set the desired tilt angle;

(g) the upper and lower azimuth plates 38, 40 are rotated relative tothe lower and upper U-bolt brackets 22, 32 to orient the frame 100 asdesired, and the adjustment bolts 44 are tightened; and

(h) the antenna (or other equipment) is raised and mounted on the frame100.

Although the mount 10 is illustrated for mounting to a leg of a tower,those skilled in this art will appreciate that the mount 10 may also bemounted to other structures. For example, FIG. 9 illustrates threemounts 10 attached to a monopole 200. In such a configuration, the upperand lower azimuth plates 38, 40 of each mount are attached to respectivebrackets 202 of a ring mount 204 that is in turn attached to themonopole 200. Other mounting structures may also be employed, in whichcase other hardware may be used to attach the mounts 10 thereto.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same maybe varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as adeparture from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all suchmodifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are to beincluded within the scope of the following claims.

That which is claimed is:
 1. A package of antenna mounts, comprising:(a) a plurality of antenna mounts, each of the antenna mountscomprising: first and second generally C-shaped arms, each with upperand lower free ends; equipment face mounting brackets mounted on thefirst and second arms; lower and upper plates mounted to a post; whereinthe upper free ends of the first and second arms are pivotally mountedto the upper plate, and wherein the lower free ends of the first andsecond arms are pivotally mounted to the lower plate, such that thefirst and second arms are movable between retracted and extendedpositions; wherein in the retracted position, the first and second armsare pivoted to be generally parallel with each other; wherein theantenna mounts are disposed in vertically stacked relationship; and (b)a shipping pallet underlying the stacked antenna mounts.
 2. The packagedefined in claim 1, wherein the stacked antenna mounts are separatedfrom each other by packaging layers.
 3. The package defined in claim 1,wherein the first and second arms are may be fixed in the extendedposition relative to the upper plate via fasteners inserted throughholes in the upper free ends of the arms and in the upper plate, and thefirst and second arms may be fixed in the extended position relative tothe lower plate via fasteners inserted through holes in the lower freeends of the arms and in the lower plate, the pivotal mounts and theholes defining a desired angle between the first and second arms in theextended position.
 4. The package defined in claim 1, wherein the upperplate is an upper azimuth plate having an arcuate slot, and wherein abracket is attached to the post, the bracket having an adjustment memberreceived in the slot so that the mount can rotate about an axis definedby the post.
 5. A method of constructing an antenna mount, comprising:(a) providing an antenna mount as defined in claim 1; (b) pivoting thefirst and second arms to the extended position; (c) securing the firstand second arms in the extended position; (d) securing horizontal tubesto the equipment face mounting brackets; and (e) securing vertical tubesto the horizontal tubes.
 6. The method defined in claim 5, wherein inthe extended position, the first and second arms define an angle of 120degrees.
 7. The method defined in claim 5, wherein the equipment facebrackets are substantially coplanar to each other in the extendedposition.
 8. The method defined in claim 5, wherein at least one of theupper and lower free ends of the first and second arms has a flattenedsection with raised edges sandwiching a recess, and wherein fastenersare inserted through holes in the upper and lower plates and into holesin the upper and lower free ends, each of the fasteners having a headthat prevents the fastener from rotating when inserted into the recessbetween the raised edges.